Fox Cubs' foxy tunes

‘Come into our office,” Fox Cubs’ Pete quips as I’m helped into the back of their red tour van.

We’re now huddled quite cosily in a dimly-lit circle, as though we’re sitting round a campfire, just after their BBC Introducing gig at Bar Four in Friar Street.

The Newbury band are in relaxed mode following their first public performance in two months.

Their brand new never-heard-before tracks went down well with the crowd, which is probably a relief, considering that this time last year Fox Cubs were almost an entirely different band.

Sitting cross-legged by the open door Tim Baggott says: “Last year we were very much the indie pop band. Then we kind of had a midlife crisis after a year and now we’re verging on hardcore guitars – but it’s still accessible.”

Last summer Fox Cubs enjoyed a steady run of successes, selected to play Reading and Leeds festivals as well as Glastonbury by BBC Introducing, plus being asked by Steve Lamacq to headline his stage at the prestigious Camden Crawl.

With their track You Never Learn a definite favourite among the fans and DJs alike, with its catchy riffs and euphoric whoops in the chorus, it looked as though Fox Cubs were going in for the kill.

But of late it’s been all quiet on the band front, so where have they been?

Tim explains:”We took two months off when we realised we didn’t really like some of the songs any more so we did nothing for a month.

“We were supposed to be writing intensively then, in the last three or four weeks, we started having a rush of ideas so we did them all over the course of about two or three weeks.”

The very idea of no longer liking the songs that have bred such success (and don’t forget they are still an unsigned band) can seem like the five-piece are shooting themselves in the foot.

But beneath the commercial veneer from last year’s sound lay a band unhappy with their direction.

“It was quite a funny realisation when we were writing these pop songs last year,” says Tim, “we realised just how easy it was.

“We were writing these songs in an hour with really no thought apart from ‘this’ll probably go on the radio’. It’s kind of uninspiring when you see bands that are similar.”

“Now I just think we’re not making compromises to please anyone else cos we spent the whole of last year doing that.

“People were saying ‘write more things like this and we’ll sign you up’.

“We did a couple of demos for Universal and then the guy got made redundant so there’s point trying to satisfy anyone else because it won’t lead to anything.

“If we do what ‘we’ want then at least we’re not screwing ourselves over.”

A noble and brave gesture, then, for Fox Cubs to ditch the easy route and stay true to themselves. But is pop then a dirty word to the band now?

“There’s nothing wrong with pop it’s just the connotations of it. If you say we’re a pop band instantly I think of things like Alphabeat and McFly.”

Yet the band do acknowledge that some of their earlier material, such as You Never Learn, remains a fan favourite. “We went through a phase of not playing it and we played a gig out in Essex – we’d never been there before – and people at the front shouted out for us to play it, so we had to really,” says Pete.

“Then we liked it again for a bit, but then in this two-month gap we played it in rehearsals and completely went off it again.”

However the track does remain on reserve on their set-list. Otherwise, the set they played tonight is certainly a lot darker, with more guitar thrashings and a denser sound.

The burgeoning track Gold And Silver to me is a hit-in-the-making, while end song This Is Just The Start has Tim exploring his falsetto shrills.

“We’ve got plenty of things on the burner so hopefully there’ll be some even newer stuff,” says Tim.

The good news for the band is that they’re taking their new sound to the world-famous South By South West festival in Austin, Texas, where the world’s music industry converges to hear the hottest and newest acts.

They’ve obtained a sought-after grant from the Performing Rights Society and will be heading there to play mid-March.

“Ideally we’re aiming to stay out there for two or three weeks, going over to LA cos we have some friends there and then over to New York. So I’m really excited,” says Tim.

Before that they’re recording their new tracks at Studio 91 in Newbury.

So if the new sound goes down well this year it could finally be the break that Fox Cubs are after – and happily, on their own terms.